Barcelona Atlètic Loses 1-0 to Girona B Amid 21-Player Shortage Crisis
Barcelona Atlètic suffered a 1-0 defeat against Girona B after the Spanish FA refused to postpone their match despite a severe crisis involving 21 missing players due to international call-ups and injuries.
Barcelona Atlètic suffered a 1-0 defeat against Girona B in a local derby after being forced to play with a depleted squad missing 21 players. The Spanish FA rejected requests to postpone the fixture, announcing its final decision just hours before kickoff and leaving coach Juliano Belletti with a severe selection crisis.
The Catalan reserve side faced an unprecedented emergency as 12 players departed for international duty and another nine were sidelined with injuries. Among the absentees was Israeli midfielder Orian Goren, who had also been released from the Israel national squad due to injury, alongside players representing Spain's under-19 and under-18 teams, as well as Ghana, Ecuador, and Belgium.
With only 12 available players initially—including just ten registered reserve team members and two youth prospects—Belletti had to rely heavily on inexperienced academy players to complete his matchday squad. The situation worsened during the match when Dani Avilés sustained an injury in the sixth minute and was substituted, followed later by an injury to Ibrahim Diarra. Having already used all five substitutions, Barcelona finished the game with ten men, allowing Girona to secure the 1-0 victory.
Precedents Ignored Amid Regulatory Changes
Catalan media outlets strongly criticized the scheduling decision, pointing out previous instances where reserve matches were postponed, such as Real Madrid’s fixtures in September due to the U20 Intercontinental Cup. However, a rule modification introduced in October lowered the required number of registered reserve players to just five, enabling league authorities to approve the match despite Barcelona's extraordinary constraints.
Expressing deep frustration after the final whistle, coach Belletti highlighted the unfair physical burden placed on his makeshift squad.
"I hope no other coach has to go through what I went through."
Belletti emphasized that several players were entirely unfit to complete a full 90-minute match under such grueling conditions, while Goren and his teammates will hope for a swift recovery ahead of upcoming fixtures.
